Tuesday, January 7, 2014

The Tony Mack trial - Day 1

As promised, the Tony Mack case is starting off like gangbusters. Here’s a few quotes from today’s Trentonian regarding the trial.

Quote 1: The former Trenton Mayor was smart enough not to fall for the okie-doke.

Former Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer was also baited by the same FBI plot that baited Tony Mack into alleged corruption during the former mayor’s last term in office. He didn’t bite. Two of the FBI’s cooperating witnesses tried to sell a bogus parking garage plan to Palmer’s administration.

In a strikingly similar sting, Mack and his brother Ralphiel Mack face charges of extortion, bribery, and mail and wire fraud in an alleged scheme to accept $119,000 in bribes in exchange for using the mayor’s influence over the development of a parking garage on city-owned land.

Quote 2: No one outside of Trenton admitted to knowing anything about Tony Mack and became jurors.

A pool of potential jurors was chosen to hear the federal case against Mayor Tony Mack on Monday from a pool of 78 citizens that included only two black women and a few other minorities.

“You never really get a jury of your peers,” Mack’s lawyer, Mark Davis, said following the proceedings. “It is what it is, and you have to work with what you get.”Davis commented after U.S. Judge Michael Shipp oversaw the selection of a jury panel of 16 made up of six white men, eight white women, one black woman and a man of Puerto Rican background.

Federal juries in Trenton are chosen from citizens of the mid New Jersey counties of Mercer, Somerset, Ocean, Monmouth, Hunterdon and Warren. It is one of the wealthiest regions in the nation, a sharp contrast from Trenton demographics.

Quote 3: Mack’s supporters are scurrying like roaches

Mack’s ears ring now from vocal disenchanted former supporters. Friends and family backup have deteriorated. Mack’s wife and kids allegedly moved out of town, hopefully a decision made by the mayor to remove lineage away from public scrutiny.

Quote 4: The Feds are paying for Mack’s attorney and private investigator?

In the defense corner, standing at 6-foot-1, quick on his feet, Mark G. Davis, will fight on Mayor Mack’s behalf. Davis, 34, a court-appointed attorney, has his own Hamilton law office.

The federal government is not only paying for Trenton Mayor Tony F. Mack’s attorney, but also for a private investigator in his corruption trial...being paid by the U.S. government with connecting attorneys with investigators.

The government is paying for Mayor Mack’s and his brother attorneys at $90 an hour. A million dollar budget has been assigned to the defense from the government.